ACCESS ALL ARIAS

HOW SUSAN USED SIGN LANGUAGE KNOWLEDGE TO MAKE SHOWS AT HISTORIC CITY THEATRE MORE INCLUSIVE

- By DANNY GUTMANN ECHO Correspondent

A WOMAN motivated by her grandmother's health condition is working to make theatre accessible for all at one of Liverpool's best-known venues.

Susan Segar, 28, has been working in the Royal Court's box office for almost 10 years after first becoming involved in youth theatre shows.

But before that, since she was a child she had been using sign language to communicate with her grandma Hilda, who was deaf.

Susan said that after being “quite a dramatic child”, it was during a drama class at high school that she first connected with the theatre.

She said: “The Royal Court’s community engagement officer, Miriam Mussa, set up Access All Areas.

“The Royal Court and their practitioners would come into certain high schools and create a play with the drama classes and I was very lucky to be a part of that for about a year and a half.”

After being inspired by the events run by Miriam, Susan soon joined the Royal Court's youth theatre and she was later offered a role working at the box office.